Recruitment trend likely to flounder as confidence dips

Cisco isn't going to be the only firm looking to protect the bottom line by taking the axe to staff numbers with warnings that plenty of other UK businesses are considering reducing headcount as the economy heads back into choppy waters.

The warning is sounded in the
latest labour market outlook from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and KPMG which discovered that the talk of growth that had been a theme throughout the year so far had been replaced by a grimmer tone about a fall in confidence.

The manufacturing sector has been hit particularly hard and confidence there has dipped but pessimism is also being displayed more widely across the economy as business leaders try to second guess the likely impact of a global slowdown.

"Increasing uncertainty about growth prospects in both the UK and global economies is now affecting hiring intentions; particularly in those industries such as manufacturing that stand to lose most in the event of a global slowdown. This will concern the government as it attempts to rebalance the economy towards exports and investment," said Gerwyn Davies, public policy adviser at the CIPD.

"Together with the public sector redundancies, which will affect one in twenty front-line workers according to our survey, the recent story of an employment revival may become one of an employment relapse," he warned.

Adding to the feelings that things are becoming more challenging the latest Business Trends
optimism index from BDO showed that confidence took a slight dip last month, dropping to the lowest point since January, with more employers planning to cut jobs rather than to recruit staff in the third quarter.

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